Changes in cue associability across training in human causal learning.
A series of experiments studied the amount learned about two food cues (A and B) whose presentation in a meal was followed by an allergy (+) in a fictitious patient. Participants were trained with A+ and C+ in Phase 1 and then with AB+ or AB++ in Phase 2. Subsequent testing revealed that BC was more allergenic than AD, showing that more had been learned about B than A in Phase 2. Participants were also trained with A+, then with AB+, and finally with AB++. The results of interpolating AB+ between A+ and AB++ training were consistent with the hypothesis that pretraining with Cue A selectively suppressed attention to its associate across the AB+ trials and, thereby, reduced the amount subsequently learned about B on AB++ trials.
Mitchell
Chris J
CJ
School of Psychology, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia. chris.mitchell@unsw.edu.au
Harris
Justin A
JA
Westbrook
R Frederick
RF
Griffiths
Oren
O
D003463:Cues; D006801:Humans; D007858:Learning; D013663:Teaching